A humidity control apparatus has been known in the art, which controls the humidity of the outside air or the room air, and supplies the humidity-controlled air into the room. As a humidity control apparatus of this type, Patent Document 1 discloses a humidity control apparatus including an adsorption heat exchanger carrying an adsorbent thereon.
The humidity control apparatus of Patent Document 1 includes a refrigerant circuit having refrigerant circulating therethrough to perform a refrigeration cycle. Connected to the refrigerant circuit are a compressor, a first adsorption heat exchanger, a second adsorption heat exchanger, an expansion valve, and a four-way switching valve. The compressor is provided in a predetermined chamber in the casing. The first adsorption heat exchanger and the second adsorption heat exchanger are provided respectively in two heat exchanger chambers in the casing.
In the refrigerant circuit, an operation in which the first adsorption heat exchanger serves as a condenser and the second adsorption heat exchanger as an evaporator, and another operation in which the second adsorption heat exchanger serves as a condenser and the first adsorption heat exchanger as an evaporator, are performed. In the adsorption heat exchanger operating as an evaporator, the moisture in the air is adsorbed by the adsorbent. In the adsorption heat exchanger operating as a condenser, the moisture is desorbed from the adsorbent and is given to the air.
The humidity control apparatus of Patent Document 1 supplies one of the air having passed through the adsorption heat exchangers into the room and discharges the other to the outside. For example, in the humidity control apparatus in a dehumidification mode, the passageway of the air in the casing is set so that the air having passed through one of the first and second adsorption heat exchangers that operates as an evaporator is supplied into the room and the air having passed through the other that operates as a condenser is discharged to the outside. In this humidity control apparatus, the passageway of the air is switched from one to another through the operation of opening/closing a plurality of dampers. Specifically, the humidity control apparatus changes the passageway of the air passing through the adsorption heat exchangers by opening/closing eight dampers so as to switch between the dehumidification mode, the humidification mode, etc.
Citation List
Patent Document
PATENT DOCUMENT 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2006-349304